Details of Disappearance

Everilda was last seen in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 13, 2006. Her husband, John Matthus Watson III, a retired high school mathematics teacher, stated he and his wife separated and she failed to meet him later as they had planned. He stated that she left of her own accord and moved to Central America, leaving behind a note and her wedding ring, credit cards and keys.

Everilda has relatives in Guatemala and was scheduled to visit them a few days after her disappearance, but she did not board her flight and investigators have found no evidence that she left the United States. Her son reported her missing on July 15.

Photographs of John are posted with this case summary. He was arrested the day after her disappearance was reported because he was carrying false identification. John was later charged with Everilda's kidnapping, robbery and murder.

Investigators believe he lured her to Las Vegas by saying he wished to celebrate her recent birthday there, then murdered her at the Tuscany hotel and dismembered her corpse.

John checked into the hotel using an alias name and wearing a false mustache and a wig. He is known to have purchased an electric saw, bleach, antifreeze, odor-absorbent trash bags, incense and odor neutralizer on July 13.

Authorities think he shot his wife and dismembered her body with the saw, wrapped up her remains in the bags, and used the other items to clean up the hotel room.

Everilda's blood was found in John's blue 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee and in the carpet and shower area of the hotel room. John stated his wife had accidentally cut her finger inside his vehicle, but there was too much blood there to have come from a minor injury.

Everilda's remains are believed to have been dumped somewhere between between Las Vegas and southern California.

In an April 2008 media interview, John said he believed Everilda was dead, but that he did not harm her and does not know who did. He added that he was dying of cancer and did not care what happened to him.

John has a prior history of police involvement. In 1967 he was arrested after he confessed to raping and killing a hitchhiker, but he was released without charge after the police couldn't find her body. He was convicted of arson that same decade when he tried to burn down his own home in Texas. He served ten months in prison for the crime.

In the 1970s, he was arrested by the Secret Service after he allegedly threatened the life of then-President Richard Nixon, but he was never prosecuted in that case.

John was convicted of Everilda's murder in June 2010. Authorities believe he had been planning her murder for about a month beforehand. Everilda was apparently planning to leave her husband and supposedly he killed her to avoid the financial consequences of divorce.

In letters he wrote in jail, John wrote that he had cooked and ate part of Everilda's body. After his conviction, he asked the jury for the death penalty. He converted to Islam while awaiting trial and stated his religious beliefs require the death sentence for murder. He was accordingly sentenced to death and is awaiting execution.

Everilda and John have three adult sons. At the time of her disappearance she was employed in a school cafeteria. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance due to the circumstances involved.